MSU's top 50 football players: No. 35 Joe DeLamielleure

Joe DeLamielleure, shown here with the Buffalo Bills during his rookie season in 1973, was an All-American in 1972 at Michigan State and, a year earlier, helped Eric Allen rush for a then-NCAA record 350 yards in one game.(Photo: LSJ File)

The skinny: An All-American in 1972, DeLamielleure led a wishbone ground attack that saw three different rushers eclipse 100 yards and the Spartans average better than 260 yards per game in Big Ten play. A year earlier, as a junior, DeLamielleure paved the way for Eric Allen's 350-yard rushing day at Purdue. Later, as an All-Pro guard for the Buffalo Bills, DeLamielleure blocked for O.J. Simpson's then-NFL-record 273-yard performance in 1977.

DeLamielleure's senior season at MSU was the final season for coach Duffy Daugherty, a 5-5-1 campaign that epitomized the program's mediocrity during DeLamielleure's three years on the Spartans' offensive line. The crowning achievement of that season was a 19-12 late November win over No. 5 Ohio State, during which DeLamielleure and Co. produced 334 rushing yards with a backfield that didn't have a single 500-yard rusher that season.

DeLamielleure is better known for his pro career. Buffalo drafted him in the first round of the 1973 draft and he played 13 seasons — six as an All-Pro — for the Bills and Cleveland Browns. He and Herb Adderley are the only Spartans in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

MSU top 50 logo(Photo: LSJ illustration)

Why he's No. 35: DeLamielleure stood out as a great player on MSU teams going nowhere. Like with Ed Budde at No. 36 on this countdown, it is impossible not to take into account a pro career of distinction — it helps to validate the collegiate honors given to an offensive lineman. That DeLamielleure played into the mid-80s in the NFL speaks to his ability to withstand changing eras in the trenches.

Had he played on better teams, he very well might be higher on this countdown.